Dear Associations, Nobody Cares About Your Discounts

Many associations are perceived by their members and the public as merely publishers of industry journals, hosts of annual conferences, or providers of professional insurance—a view that fails to capture the broader, impactful roles these organizations play. Associations are not just about their bottom line, though financial health is necessary for sustainability. They are sophisticated entities that operate with a business acumen akin to for-profits, yet their ultimate mission transcends mere profit. They exist to defend, promote, and improve their entire sector, advocating for and advancing the profession they serve.

Given all of that, it becomes obvious: No marketing-communication is more interesting, dynamic, and difficult than association marketing.

Why discounts don’t count.

The point of a membership in any organization is to confer benefits that non-members can’t access. The difference between a member and a non-member is access, pure and simple. Ask yourself what your association offers access to. More importantly, ask: Is access to those things relevant to our members’ dreams, fears, goals, problems, and daily work?

Don’t remove discounts from your membership program, especially if they don’t cost you much. They’re a nice way to bulk up a benefits list.

But it’s important to consider whether discounts are enough to sustain the kind of member engagement and loyalty we strive for.

We must ask: Do discounts matter?

And in our experience working alongside professional associations for more than a decade, we’ve come to a simple conclusion: Discounts don’t matter much. And the primary reason they don’t? Because discounts don’t speak feelings.

If associations are to achieve their goals, they need the largest community of members who feel. Raw membership numbers prove nothing; raw membership engagement says something.

You need to offer benefits that excite, challenge, intrigue, and nudge people toward a better way of working. There lie the seeds of true, long-term, authentic engagement with the people your association exists to help.

Here’s a list of reasons that discounts won’t sustain your membership over time. Notice that everything on this list rests on a shared hypothesis: Authentic human relationships matter more than numbers on a spreadsheet.

1) Experiences matter.

People remember experiences more fully, emotionally, and readily than almost any digital interaction (such as entering a “promo code” on a checkout page).

Pro tip: When you design experiences, whether live or online, spend a lot of time figuring out how to make the VERY END of the experience exceptional. The end of experiences greatly shapes how we think of those experiences. For example, when a member completes their renewal process on your website, what if they landed on a custom-designed page that is filled with animated balloons and a cartoon figure of your Executive Director singing, “For she’s a jolly good fellow!!”? (Yes, it’s a bit out there, but it will work.)

2) People matter.

People want to be cool, to belong, to learn something neat, to spend their time with you feeling like they’re moving forward (instead of running in circles). Discounts can’t fulfill any of those desires. What can? Personal introductions to colleagues they might like. People matter more than $100 off.

3) Differentiation is nil.

I’ve had the good luck to work with dozens and dozens of wonderful associations both large and small. But line their membership benefits lists up side by side — e.g., discounts on rental cars or a cheaper annual Costco membership — and you’ll find a healthy amount of crossover. Discounts don’t do anything to set your association apart from others.

4) Discounts don’t last.

Announcing a huge discount on the upcoming Annual Meeting “with a membership” will probably inflate numbers in the short term. That’s not nothing. But it can’t last, and it certainly won’t work year after year. Discounts offer a misleading view of recent membership numbers. To foster deep engagement with members, associations must do more, including developing a rich onboarding system and providing a nonstop stream of valuable information and resources.

5) Finances get tricky.

If your membership benefits were engaging and offered zero discounts, just imagine how much more money your association could earn in the long term. By focusing on developing authentic engagement with members, you can inspire career-long loyalty. That loyalty, when translated into pure revenue, is going to outpace just about any short-term discount you can invent.

Be prepared to lose some folks.

If your association has the courage and leadership buy-in to reconsider your membership benefits—and, in turn, to invest real money and human capital into pursuing a new way of operating—be prepared to see some folks fall off.

Some prospective members might be hesitant about the reduced emphasis on discounts. That’s understandable—as for many, the financial benefits of membership play a role in their decision-making process.

But anyone who won’t join your community simply because you don’t have as many discounts as you used to wasn’t going to be a long-term fan or deeply engaged member anyway. And they definitely wouldn’t lend their voice to your work in a way that enhances your association’s influence on the world. You’ll lose this group, and that’s OK. Because in return, you’ll gain others who want to lend you more than their credit card number. It’s not easy to make the decision to let them go, of course, but if you invest in savvy member research and craft a mature marketing system, you can transform some of these discount-hunters into true allies.

What benefits matter?

Ah, now that is a great question—a fun, creative question that allows your association to invent new ways of delivering value.

There are plenty of popular options, such as developing a robust mentorship program, crafting members-only webinars or events, or publishing a new quarterly report filled with leading industry insights.

What else? Well, in our many years partnering with associations, Mighty Citizen has seen (and built) some attractive benefit programs. We’ve learned a thing or ten about how to both build a revenue-generating membership system while still retaining a great brand and a strong mission focus.

Let’s meet. Let’s talk. Let’s find a way to move beyond discounts as a membership driver. Reach out and we’ll get the conversation started.